It's all over! Britain's two-day Indian summer comes to a rainy end

As weekends go, that was splendid, thanks - warm and sunny with that sweet, fresh smell of summer in the air.

What a shame we won't see any more like it for a while.

Forecasters warned yesterday that there is little chance of a real Indian summer, despite the glorious days we just had.

Shades on: Two girls enjoy the glorious weather on Bournemouth beach over the weekend

This little boy is well covered up from the sunshine

Rain is expected to return to many areas today, and though there is the possibility of a period of relatively dry weather after that, the days are not tipped to be either very sunny or warm.

A Met Office spokesman said: 'There are no signs of an Indian summer ahead, especially in the eastern part of the country which could see some rain this week. It will however be a bit sunnier in the West.'

He added: 'It's difficult to remember when we had such a nice weekend, it's just been one of those summers.'

On the weekend, temperatures topped 21c (70f) in many parts of the UK.

Average September temperatures for England and Wales are around 18c (64f) or 19c (66f) - the sort of numbers predicted for the rest of this week.

Thousands headed to the seaside yesterday to make the most of the warmth.

Angie Moss, 60, who was on the beach at Bournemouth with her two young grandsons, said: 'It's the summer we never had. There isn't a cloud in the sky and there's very little wind.

'The beach looks great and the kids love it - and it's cheap. I've seen some people in the water, and there are hundreds just walking up and down the promenade.'

She added: 'If only we'd had weather like this during the school holidays.'

People take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather at Brighton beach

Topping up the tan: A sunbather gets some rays at Brighton

A spokesman from the town's beach office said: 'It's lovely and there are plenty of people here. I think it's busier than Saturday.'

Today's September equinox heralds the start of autumn. The Met Office prediction for the season is average temperatures and below-average rainfall.

A glance at the weather statistics for summer shows that it has been anything but average. In fact, it has been one of the wettest and least sunny on record.

We had the dullest August since records began in 1929 and a well below par 463.9 hours of sunshine between June 1 and August 31.

A Londoner gets some late use out of her bikini on the banks of the River Thames in Richmond

Two boys enjoy a game of football in the sunshine on Blackpool beach

Although the national seasonal rainfall average of 327mm (nearly 13in) was below last summer's record breaking 357mm total, it was still the fifth wettest in almost 100 years.

Britain has now had two miserable summers in a row and last year saw the worst floods in a generation.

Still, some optimists are willing to bet on a better result next year. William Hill is offering odds of 8-1 on there being a 100f (38c) heatwave next summer.